A Look at the Cooks: Fort Herriman Days 2009

This weekend boasted Fort Herriman Days, so there was much "fun" to be had. The morning began with a parade. We loaded up the Highlander with chairs, a stroller, drinks, snacks and the kids and made the grueling 3 block trip to the parade route. We found a good spot and waited not-so-patiently for the parade to make it our way. Brenna is still not fond of sirens, but tolerated them well with her hands over her ears. Austin took it all in from his stroller, but didn't care for the fire truck siren or the marching band (sorry Scott). Those were the two noisiest things, so I can't say I blame him. Brenna collected a respectable amount of candy which she even shared with me.

Next we were off to gymnastics. She still loves going each week, and her skills are continuing to progress. She can do a pull-over on the bars if she has something from which to push off. Sometimes they hold up a wedge for the girls to walk their feet up and sometimes it's just a big block to push off. They've started doing sit ups and push ups as part of their warm up. It's hilarious to watch. After gymnastics we went home for lunch and a rest. Austin and I rested while Brenna read books in her room.

For the evening's activities, we went to the Fort Herriman Days Carnival with some classmates of Brenna's and their parents. It was fun to see Alex, Aiden and Brenna ride the rides and pal around together. They rode the boat ride, the carney's equivalent of the tea cup ride, and bounced in a couple of bounce houses. They got their faces painted and got tatoos. Brenna wanted her face painted like a princess. I wasn't sure what the artist was going to come up with, but as you can see below it worked out very well. Her tatoo is of a butterfly. It's not a cheap-o temporary tatoo; it's actually painted on. She got it on her leg like her Daddy.

We ate a picnic dinner of fried chicken, cole slaw, potato salad, cucumber salad, chips and dip and patriotic rice crispie treats. The weather was perfect - sunny with a cool breeze, so we weren't baking in the sun on the midway. Once we had exhausted our ride funds, we came back to our house where the kids played on the swing set and the adults enjoyed conversation on the patio. Austin was a champ through the whole evening and loved being outside chilling in his bouncy seat.